The present invention relates in general to bottles, and more particularly, to a new and useful mated bottle unit in which the bottles in the unit are provided with large diameter stub spouts.
A mated container unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,595. The unit is composed of a pair of containers or bottles that have a substantially elongated neck, each being insertable into a recess of the other container or bottle. The mated containers form a polyhedron substantially filling and occupying no more than the minimum rectangular polyhedron needed to encompass a single one of the containers. In this way, a compact rectangular solid structure can be formed. A multiple container package, which again utilizes elongated necks that fit into recesses of adjacent containers, is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,799. Again, the combined polyhedral unit, which is formed, is substantially filled.
Short neck stackable containers engageable with each other are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,839 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,391,824. Such containers do not provide the substantial oenefits of full space utilization.
All of the foregoing containers include necks that have relatively small diameter discharge openings. The diameter of the discharge opening is primarily limited by the requirement that the neck fit into the recess of a receiving container.
It is often necessary, however, to provide containers with large diameter openings, e.g. where fluids of solids having poor flowing characteristics must be stored. It is advantageous in such cases to make the opening large enough so that the contents of the container can easily be scooped out through the opening. Particularly describable would be a short neck or stub spout mateable bottle arrangement which does not require an increase in the head room that is required for a single unit.